


All In A Day's Work

by WotanAnubis



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ashen Demon, Byleth's Mercenary Days, Gen, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 09:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20338072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WotanAnubis/pseuds/WotanAnubis
Summary: In which a soon to be ex-brigand has a very bad day.





	All In A Day's Work

**Author's Note:**

> Come to think of it, Byleth would've made a pretty effective horror movie villain.

Geoff the Axe was about to die.

He ran blindly through the dark forest that'd been his home of late. The axe that'd given him his nickname he'd abandoned at the bloody roadside together with the bodies of his gang.

Geoff had figured out pretty early on in life how the world worked. Way he saw it all the little laws and rules only existed to keep the nobles in power and keep the commoners obedient. Well, he hadn't been a noble, but he sure hadn't been a sucker either. If he'd wanted a proper life all he had to do was take it.

So he had. He'd put together a little gang of like-minded folk to carve out their own little place in the world. They'd raided villages, torched farms, robbed merchants, slaughtered families. Small-time stuff, really. Nothing anyone cared about. That is, nothing anyone with the power to do anything about it cared about.

That was the beautiful thing. Rob of a noble of their weekly banquet and they'd send knights after you. Rob a farmer of their harvest and the noble would send knights after the farmer for failing to provide enough food for the noble's weekly banquet.

And so the Red Forest Gang had run rampant across the countryside, enriching themselves on the backs of the poor. Just like proper nobles. Rather than working himself to the bone for nothing, Geoff had enjoyed a life of modest luxury and a lot of good food.

Until now.

The gang'd caught word some Alliance merchant caravan was about to pass through their turf. It was a golden opportunity. The high-and-mighty Imperial lords didn't even care about their own subjects, let alone foreigners. Nobody would bat an eye when those merchants and all their goods disappeared.

Only it hadn't been a merchant caravan. It'd been mercenaries.

Geoff had no idea who'd paid for them. Maybe a bunch of towns had clubbed together. It didn't really matter right now. All that mattered right now was getting away.

Especially from _her_.

They hadn't been attacked by any ordinary band of mercs. It'd been Jeralt the Blade Breaker himself. And _she_ had come with him.

He'd heard of the Ashen Demon before. Everyone in his line of work had. She was a kind of brigand boogeyman. _Make sure none of the witnesses escape or the Ashen Demon will come for you._ That kind of thing. He'd always figured some boss had made her up so his lackeys wouldn't get sloppy.

But she existed. She'd been there, at the roadside. But she wasn't any kind of demon. She was worse. A demon might show rage or glee or something. A demon would show joy in the carnage, which Geoff would've been able to understand.

But _she_ had shown nothing. No expression on her face, no life in her eyes. She'd cut through his men as though they'd been nothing more than dust to be swept aside. Even Jeralt, with his mighty reputation, had grimaced as he fought for his life. But the Demon had been completely indifferent to the blood and the screams.

Geoff had lost his nerve and fled. How could he've fought something like that? The Ashen Demon wasn't a person. She was a... a... a _doll_ that someone had brought to life and handed a sword. Wherever she walked people died and she didn't even notice.

Something rustled behind him. Just a forest creature, Geoff told himself over the panicked pounding of his heart. A startled fox or something. Maybe a squirrel. The fight at the roadside hadn't been over yet when he'd retreated. He was sure nobody had seen him leave. There couldn't be anyone following him.

A twig snapped as though a boot had trod heavily on it.

Geoff risked a glance behind and regretted it instantly. He could have dealt with a small group of mercenaries. He could handle Jeralt. But he couldn't deal with _her_.

_She_ ran after him, her blank stare focused on him. He couldn't read her intentions on her placid face. There was nothing there to read. But Geoff knew them sure enough. Why else would the Demon be after him?

It would've been better if she'd yelled threats at him, or swore, or growled, or even just breathed heavily. Anything to show she might actually be a human being. Instead, she came at him in total silence. A pale wraith drifting through the dark forest and just as inescapable.

Geoff couldn't have looked behind him for more than a second or two, but that was time enough for his right foot to get caught by some twisted root. He tripped face first into the dirt.

He tried madly to get back to his feet, but before he was even halfway up, a heavy boot landed on his back and the cold tip of a sword pressed against the back of his neck.

"Why're you after me, huh?" Geoff demanded. "What've I ever done to you?"

"Nothing," the Ashen Demon replied.

Geoff felt his soul shrivel in terror. The Ashen Demon's voice was a cold, blank monotone void. He had no idea what kind of creature could possibly have a voice like it, but it was nothing human.

"Well then, let me go," Geoff said, with far more bravado than he felt. "You don't care, do you?"

"The Imperial Princess hired us to eliminate you."

Geoff almost snarled at the Demon for insulting him with such an obvious lie. The Emperor never did anything and nobody ever saw the rest of the Imperial family. The Imperial Princess was probably holed up in some fancy palace having decadent parties all day like every other noble out there.

But why would a soulless creature like this lie to him? To get a rise out of him? Why would it care about such a petty pleasure? To protect the identity of the one who actually hired it? It was going to kill him anyway, so why would it bother?

"Yeah, right, well done," he said. "The gang's no more. Job done, right?"

"Why were you called the Red Forest Gang?" the Demon asked.

"What? Oh. Uh. 'Cuz the leaves 'round here get really red during the Wyvern Moon, y'know."

"Oh," said the Demon. "So it's not because wherever you go, you leave the ground red with the blood of your victims?"

"Nah, nah, 'course not," said Geoff desperately. "We just put that story about so people'd hand over their valuables without a fuss, right? If they just surrender right away nobody has to get nasty, see? Saves a lot of lives in the long run."

"I see," said the Demon.

"So, so, way I see it, the gang's done, you're getting paid anyway, no need to kill me, right? Just let me slip away and I'll never bother anyone again, OK?"

"I might have considered sparing you," the Ashen Demon said as it raised its sword, "if you hadn't lied to me."


End file.
